Gas turbine engines generally operate by ingesting air at a compressor inlet and compressing the air in the compressor. The compressed air is provided to a combustor, where the compressed air is mixed with a fuel and ignited. The resultant combustion products are expanded across a turbine section, and drive rotation of the turbine section. The turbine section is connected to the compressor section via one or more shafts, and rotation of the turbine drives rotation of the compressor. In some examples, the shaft is further connected to a fan either directly or through a geared fan drive, and drives rotation of the fan.
Included within each of the compressor and the turbine sections are multiple stages. Each stage includes a ring of rotors and a paired ring of stators, with the rotors and stators being aerodynamically configured to drive fluid through the compressor stage, and be driven to rotate as fluid passes through the turbine stage. The stator vanes, and the rotor blades, typically include airfoil shaped profiles and span the primary flowpath of the gas turbine engine.